If the Spanish Men's National Team pulls off a World Cup victory on Sunday, the Spanish football federation would make history as the first to bring home successive World Cup championships on the men's and women's side in the history of the tournament.The women's team won the 2023 World Cup and will enter next year's tournament in Brazil as defending champions.While the men's team has been a perennial contender, appearing in 17 out of 23 World Cup tournaments, they last won the Trophy back in 2010.The FIFA Women's World Cup has had a much shorter history than its male counterpart; having started in 1991 compared to 1930 for the men.
During that time, it has only had five different champions: the United States, Germany, Norway, Japan and Spain.Only two of those teams, Germany and Spain, have also won the men's World Cup.Spain has a robust men's soccer league system, led by the Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, more commonly known as La Liga.Its teams are consistently among the top-ranked in Europe.Real Madrid, based in the capitol, is one of the world's most successful soccer clubs.
FC Barcelona is the third-most valuable soccer club in the world, and Argentina's Lionel Messi broke Brazilian legend Pelé's record for most goals scored for a single club for the Catalonian team.Trips to Barcelona's stadium, Camp Nou, have reached near-pilgrimage status for diehard soccer fans.Spanish women's soccer has lagged far behind, with both a league and a national team system plagued by poor coaching, underinvestment and abuse.In 2015, the entire Women's World Cup squad successfully called for the removal of coach Ignacio Quereda, whose leadership of the team since 1988 led many female players to accuse the Royal Spanish Football Federation of indifference to the women's team.
Even before the 2015 tournament, some longtime national team players said they refused to return to international duty as long as Quereda kept coaching.In a 2021 documentary, "Romper el ...